Your academic record, especially the rigor of the courses you took, and your SAT/ACT scores are still the door-openers for college admissions, and if you’re looking for acceptance at a college that admits most applicants, those measures may be enough. But if you want to be considered for admission to more selective schools, those measures aren’t nearly enough, and here’s why: You have real competition – lots of other students who want to attend those same selective schools – and their academic record and SAT/ACT scores are likely to be comparable to yours, if not better. Otherwise, those students wouldn’t be your competition, would they?

Your high school grade point average (GPA) is the #1 piece of information that schools look at when they’re considering applicants — in fact, it would probably be the #2, and #3 things, too, if that made sense. It’s been that way forever, and it’s not going to change within your lifetime, if ever.

We coddle our toddlers, dreaming big dreams for their future: health, academic excellence, outstanding athletics, sharpness, endowed with common sense, and so on and so forth. Reality usually delivers a different picture, one we customarily learn to live with. Fast forward to middle school, and to more specific dreams that both student and parent may share about the future – dreams that require foresight and advocacy.

To apply and be accepted to college, timing is everything. For a successful “application season” next summer, fall, and winter, remember this: if you wait to do the things you need to do, then some of your best opportunities to position yourself could be gone, and the remaining possibilities will have to be addressed in a shorter time span. Being unprepared and late might mean that you forego wise decision-making.

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Score At The Top comprises several family-owned, full-service learning centers and schools throughout Palm Beach and Broward Counties. For over 30 years, we have provided an integrated array of academic support and guidance services to students of all ages.

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